THE drummer of Midland rock legends Slade is putting the finishing touches to his autobiography – 37 years after a serious car crash permanently damaged his memory.

THE drummer of Midland rock legends Slade is putting the finishing touches to his autobiography – 37 years after a serious car crash permanently damaged his memory.

Don Powell, now 63, has been working on his memoirs with Danish journalist Lise Lyng Falkenberg.

On July 4, 1973, the chart-topping musician was badly hurt when his Bentley car careered into a brick wall and tree in Wolverhampton.

His 20-year-old fiancee Angela Morris died in the accident, but still no-one knows who was driving as Don lost his short-term memory as a result and both were flung from the vehicle.

The drummer, who studied metallurgy at Wednesbury Technical College before becoming a rock star, also lost his senses of taste and smell in the crash. Surgeons drilled into his skull following the incident to relieve pressure on his brain amid fears he would die.

Speaking before the opening of The Slade Rooms music venue in Wolverhampton, which was named in the band’s honour, Don said: “The book is pretty much finished and we’re just looking for a publisher.”

Don, who lives in Denmark with his partner Hanne and children Anna Kirstine, 23, Amelie, 21, and Andreas, 14, said the band, which had six number one hits in the 70s, had been very grateful for their success.

He said: “The way we look at it, we were very lucky. We appreciated everything we ever did.

“It was great fun and we travelled the world doing what we loved doing, seeing places we never imagined we would see, like Red Square, the deserts of Australia, and temples in Kyoto.”

He said the band, in which he still features along with founder guitarist Dave Hill, had dates booked in Germany, Finland and Russia and was set to record a new album. The classic line-up, with songwriters Noddy Holder and Jim Lea, split up in 1991 but Don said there were no hard feelings: “The four of us met up at Jim’s house a few weeks ago, talked about the old days and took the mickey out of each other”